Semantic information network (SION)

1. An event delivery apparatus for delivering, on network, an event comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of the data, based on the semantic information, said event delivery apparatus comprising: an event place that is a place for comparing an event sent from an event sender with a filter in which semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers with to receive is registered as an event acquisition condition, said plurality of said event receivers being different from said event sender, said event place being the smallest unit in which semantic information is described based on a common ontology system, to limit an event delivery range, said event place including, distinct from said event sender: a plurality of semantic information switches each of which compares semantic information assigned to said event sent from said event sender with semantic information registered in said filter and delivers said event sent from said event sender to said one or more of said event receivers registered in said filter among said plurality of said event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from said event sender is coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter; and a semantic information router connected to said semantic information switches to route said event between said semantic information switches based on said semantic information, and forwards said event between said semantic information switches; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.

2. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein there is further provided a semantic information gateway for forwarding events between said event place.

3. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said semantic information gateway is provided with: a filtering function that when forwarding an event between said event places, an event from an event place, being a sender, forwards only said event, which matches the condition of an event required by an event place, being a receiver.

4. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein, when forwarding an event between said event places, in the case where said event places have different ontology systems, said semantic information gateway forwards said event after performing ontology conversion on the forwarding event using ontology conversion information in which the correspondence between the ontology systems is described.

5. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein said semantic information gateway contains the difference in ontology information between adjacent event places as ontology conversion information, and performs ontology conversion of a forwarded event using said ontology conversion information.

6. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein said semantic information gateway acquires a collection of event types registered in said event places from both event places, being objects of conversion, as said ontology information, obtains the correspondence between the two event types, and the correspondence between slots, being items in the event types, calculating said correspondences as ontology conversion information, and performs ontology conversion of the forwarded event using said ontology conversion information.

7. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said semantic information gateway is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which registers a filter for an event place, being an event forwarding destination, in an event place, being an event forwarding source, among event places, and in which only events that pass through said registered filter are forwarded to an event place, being an event forwarding destination.

8. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said event place receives the request of the registration of an event type, being a template of semantic information, and registers said event type in said event place in the case where said received event type is not duplicated.

9. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said semantic information switch categorizes said filter for each event type, being a template of semantic information, further sub-categorizes said filter for each session for management, and in the case where a plurality of filters is registered in the same session, manages the relationships between the filters as a logical OR operation.

10. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores a program that can be executed by said central processing unit, which creates an event place object for achieving said semantic information switch, and creates a shared link object that achieves said semantic information router based on topology information of said event place object, and which associates said event place object and said shared link object based on said topology information.

11. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said central processing unit executes said program, in which a host that creates said event place object is dynamically determined from among the hosts capable of creating an event place object in order to distribute the load of event comparison processing in said event place, and an event place object is created in said determined host.

12. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said central processing unit executes said program, which when creating said shared link, creates a ring shaped, unidirectional shared link object among said event place objects, and when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, refers the identifier of an event place object, being the source of an event occurrence, which a forwarded event holds, and discards said event when said event is delivered to the source of an event occurrence.

13. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein said central processing unit executes said program which, when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, when registering a filter for delivering said event, instead of establishing an event path, registers a filter in which a wildcard is assigned as an event type in order to deliver said event to all event place objects in an event place.

14. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said central processing unit also executes said software that creates an information collection object for collecting statistical information regarding events delivered in said event place.

15. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said event place is further provided with a function for collecting statistical information regarding events delivered in said event place.

16. An event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said event place guarantees a common ontology system by managing ontology systems in event places, comprising event types, being templates of semantic information, inheritance relationships between event types, said metadata, being instances of event types.

17. A community providing apparatus achieved in an event delivery apparatus according to claim 1 , which is provided with: a permission function for granting approval or denial of the like of participation in said community; a management function for understanding and controlling information delivered in said community; and a statistical processing function for performing statistical management of information delivered in said community.

18. A community providing apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein said community is implemented using event places provided by said event delivery apparatus, and said management functions set information that can be delivered from adjacent communities on the semantic information gateway provided by said event delivery apparatus.

19. A semantic information gateway for delivering events comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of the data, between a plurality of event place which are the smallest units in which said semantic information is described based on a common ontology system, to limit a delivery range of events on a network, each of said event places including: a semantic information switch which compares an event sent from an event sender with a filter in which semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers wish to receive is registered as an acquisition condition of the event, and delivers said event sent from said event sender to said one or more of said event receivers registered in said filter among said plurality of said event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from said event sender is coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter, said plurality of said event receivers and said semantic information switch being different from said event sender, said semantic information gateway comprising: a forwarding section which receives said event from said semantic information switch belonging to the event place of said event sender and sends said event to said semantic information switch belonging to the event place of said one or more of said event receivers set in said filter, said forwarding section being provided with: a function for forwarding said event between said event places based on semantic information; and a function for performing ontology conversion on the forwarded event using ontology conversion information in which the correspondence between the ontology systems is described, in the case where said event places have different ontology systems; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.

20. A semantic information gateway according to claim 19 , wherein said forwarding section is further provided with a function for registering a filter in an event place, being an event forwarding source, by an event place, being an event forwarding destination, among event places, and said event forwarding function forwards only events that pass through the registered filter to an event place, being an event forwarding destination.

21. A semantic information switch for notifying an event receiver, being the destination of an event delivered on a network, of an event comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of said data, based on semantic information, which is provided with: a function for registering a filter in which the semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers wish to receive is registered as an acquisition condition of the event; a function for categorizing the filter for each event type, being templates of semantic information, and further subcategorizing said filters in each session for management, and in the case where a plurality of filters is registered in the same session, for managing the relationships between said filters as a logical OR operation; a function for comparing the semantic information registered as said filter and semantic information assigned to an event sent from an event sender; and a function for delivering said event sent from said event sender to said one or more of said event receivers registered in said filter among said plurality of event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from said event sender is coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter, said plurality of said event receivers and said semantic information switch being different from said event sender; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.

22. An event delivery method for delivering, on a network, an event comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of the data, based on the semantic information, comprising the steps of: providing an event place that is a place for comparing an event from an event sender with a filter in which semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers wish to receive is registered as an event acquisition condition, said plurality of said event receivers being different from said event sender, said event place being the smallest unit in which semantic information is described based on a common ontology system, to limit an event delivery range; providing a plurality of semantic information switches distinct from said event sender in said event place; comparing semantic information assigned to said event sent from said event sender with semantic information registered in said filter in said semantic information switch; delivering said event sent from said event sender to said one or more of said event receivers among said plurality of said event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from said event sender is determined to be coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter in said comparing step; providing semantic information router connected to said semantic information switches in said event place; and routing said event between said semantic information switches based on said semantic information using said semantic information router; and forwarding said event between said semantic information switches; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.

23. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , comprising the steps of: further establishing a semantic information gateway for forwarding events between said event places; and forwarding events between said event places using said semantic information gateway.

24. An event delivery method according to claim 23 , comprising a step of performing filtering in said semantic information gateway that, when forwarding an event between said event places, an event from an event place, being a sender forwards only said event, which matches the condition of an event required by an event place, being a receiver.

25. An event delivery method according to claim 23 , comprising a step of, in said semantic information gateway, when forwarding an event between said event places, in the case where said event places have different ontology systems, forwarding said event after performing ontology conversion on the forwarding event using ontology conversion information in which the correspondence between the ontology systems is described.

26. An event delivery method according to claim 25 , comprising the step of performing, in said semantic information gateway which contains the difference in ontology information between adjacent event places as ontology conversion information, ontology conversion of a forwarded event using said ontology conversion information.

27. An event delivery method according to claim 25 , comprising the steps of acquiring, in said semantic information gateway, a collection of even types registered, as said ontology information, in said event places from both event places, being objects of conversion, obtaining the correspondence between the two event types, and the correspondence between slots, being items in the event types, calculating said correspondences as ontology conversion information, and performing ontology conversion of the forwarded event using said ontology conversion information.

28. An event delivery method according to claim 23 , wherein said semantic information gateway is realized by the steps of: registering a filter for an event place, being an event forwarding destination, in an event place, being an event forwarding source, among event places, and forwarding only events that pass through said registered filter, to an event place, being an event forwarding destination.

29. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , comprising the steps of: receiving, in said event place, the request of the registration of an event type, being a template of semantic information, and registering said event type in said event place in the case where said received event type is not duplicated.

30. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , comprising the steps of: categorizing in said semantic information switch, said filter for each event type, being a template of semantic information, and further sub-categorizing said filter for each session for management; and in the case where a plurality of filters is registered in the same session, managing the relationships between the filters as a logical OR operation.

31. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , wherein said event place is provided by the steps of: creating an event place object for achieving said semantic information switch; creating a shared link object that achieves said semantic information router based on topology information of said event place object; and associating said event place object and said shared link object based on said topology information.

32. An event delivery method according to claim 31 , comprising, in the creation of said event place object, the steps of: dynamically determining a host from among the hosts capable of creating an event place object in order to distribute the load of event comparison processing in said event place; and creating an event place object in said determined host.

33. An event delivery method according to claim 31 , further comprising in realizing said event place, the step of creating an information collection object for collecting statistical information regarding events delivered in said event place.

34. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , comprising, when creating said shared link, the step of creating a ring shaped, unidirectional shared link object among said event place objects; and when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, the steps of: establishing an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects; referring the identifier of an event place object, being the source of an event occurrence, which forwarded event holds, and discarding said event when said event is delivered to the source of an event occurrence.

35. An event delivery method according to claim 34 , comprising, when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, the step of, when registering a filter for delivering said event, instead of establishing an event path, registering a filter in which a wildcard is assigned as an event type in order to deliver said event to all event place objects in an event place.

36. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , further comprising in said event place, the step of collecting statistical information regarding events delivered in said event place.

37. An event delivery method according to claim 22 , wherein said event place guarantees a common ontology system by managing ontology systems in event places, comprising event types, being templates of semantic information, inheritance relationships between event types and metadata, being instances of event types.

38. A community providing method implemented in an event delivery apparatus according to claim 22 , comprising: a step of granting approval or denial or the like of participation in said community; a management step for understanding and controlling information delivered in said community; and a statistical processing step for performing statistical management of information delivered in said community.

39. A community providing method according to claim 38 , comprising the steps of: creating said community using event places provided by said event delivery apparatus; and setting, in said management step, information that can be delivered from adjacent communities on the semantic information gateway provided by said event delivery method.

40. A computer program which can be executed on a computer, for executing a method according to claim 22 by a system comprising said computer program and a computer.

41. A method of forwarding events between event places comprising the steps of: defining an event comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of data; providing a semantic information switch: comparing, in said semantic information switch, an event sent from an event sender with a filter in which semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers wish to receive is registered as an event acquisition condition; delivering said event sent from said event sender to one or more of said event receivers set in said filter among the plurality of said event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from said event sender is determined to be coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter in said comparing step using said semantic information switch, said plurality of said event receivers and said semantic information switch being different from said event sender; providing event places which are the smallest unit in which said semantic information is described based on a common ontology system, to limit an event delivery range; and forwarding said events between said event places by receiving said event from said semantic information switch belonging to the event place of said event sender and by sending said event to said semantic information switch belonging to the event place of said one or more of said event receivers set in said filter; and performing ontology conversion on a forwarded event using ontology conversion information in which correspondence between ontology systems is described in the case where said event places have different ontology systems; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.

42. A method of forwarding events between event places according to claim 41 , comprising the steps of, in said event forwarding, registering a filter for an event place, being an event forwarding destination, in an event place, being an event forwarding source, among event places; and forwarding only events that pass through said registered filter to an event place, being an event forwarding destination.

43. An event delivery method for notifying an event receiver, being the destination of an event delivered on a network, of an event comprising data and semantic information, being metadata of the data, based on semantic information, comprising the steps of: registering a filter in which the semantic information of an event that one or more of a plurality of event receivers wish to receive is registered as an acquisition condition of the event, categorizing the filters for each event type, being templates of semantic information, and further subcategorizing said filters in each session for management, managing as a logical OR operation relationships between the filters, in the case where a plurality of filters is registered in the same session; comparing, in a semantic information switch the semantic information registered as said filter and semantic information assigned to an event sent from an event sender, said event sender being different from said plurality of said event receivers and said semantic information switch, and delivering said event sent from said event sender to said one or more of said event receivers among said plurality of said event receivers when said semantic information of said event sent from event sender is determined to be coincident with said semantic information of said event registered in said filter in said comparing step; wherein said event place is provided with: a central processing unit; and memory connected controllably by said central processing unit, and said memory stores software that can be executed in said central processing unit, which creates a shared link for forwarding an event based on physical link information of an event place object that achieves said semantic information switch, and which, based on a shared link established by a shared link object, routes an event between said semantic information switches, and forwards an event between said semantic information switches, and said event place achieves said semantic information router by executing said software; said central processing unit executes said program, which when forwarding an event between said semantic information switches, establishes an event path for each event type by registering a filter for delivering said event to a series of event place objects, and in which two latest identifiers of event place objects that it has passed through are held as control information for an event to be forwarded, so that infinite event forwarding is prevented by reference to said control information; and when delivering an event, said semantic information router is provided with: an event identifier assignment function for assigning each event an identifier that can identify it uniquely; and a detection function for detecting whether a duplicate event was delivered from a different path by comparison with event identifiers that were delivered and stored in the past.